


The Pain of Love

by just_another_outcast



Series: the scenes we deserve (episode tags) [10]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s01e10 Silent Night, Gen, Papa Gil, Protective Dani Powell, Tag to 1x10, Team as Family, coda to 1x10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:47:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24809518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_another_outcast/pseuds/just_another_outcast
Summary: Dani learns that caring about Bright has consequences, such as not being able to handle it when people like Agent Swanson treat him with such contempt.(tag to 1x10, Silent Night)
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Dani Powell, Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright, Malcolm Bright & Dani Powell
Series: the scenes we deserve (episode tags) [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782832
Comments: 4
Kudos: 79





	The Pain of Love

**Author's Note:**

> This one went through a few versions before I liked it, but I'm happy with how it is now. I hope you enjoy, and please leave a review!!!

Getting called in to work on Christmas was bad enough, but having to work with a team from the FBI was even worse. It wasn't that Dani disliked the FBI, she was fine with them, even when they took over the NYPD's cases, but this team specifically had Dani's hackles raised from the moment they walked into the precinct. Agent Swanson, from the very moment she walked in, just gave an air of self-righteousness and snobbery that had immediately set Dani on edge. Even Malcolm, in all his upper class glory, had never seemed even remotely as holier-than-thou as Swanson did. The way that Swanson sneered at everyone in the precinct alone turned her from someone that Dani would've otherwise been attracted to, to someone that Dani wanted nothing to do with. Add that to the look of pure repulsion she gave Bright, and Dani was about ready to drag the woman out of the precinct herself.

Everything about Swanson made her want to hurl. The way she spoke down to Bright, treating him with such cruelty and derision that he even dipped his head in submission, broke her heart and set it alight with a passion to destroy Swanson for what she said. But Dani was an NYPD detective, and NYPD detectives were professional and polite, even when that wasn't reciprocated. Dani would give Swanson a second chance, and wouldn't this time let her have a piece of her mind - really, only because Gil had been forced to let Swanson take Dani for the next twenty-four hours. And even that pissed her off. Dani highly doubted that Swanson had chosen her over JT because she had read her file and been impressed with it. It was much more likely that Swanson had chosen her simply because she was a woman and Swanson was on a power trip for that. Dani loved girl power just as much, if not more, as the next person, but not when it was toxic, and everything about Swanson was toxic.

Even JT was clearly annoyed by her. JT loved making fun of Bright, and at this point, it really was out of love, but even he had never been so cruel and sadistic with his words as Swanson was. Dani couldn't help but notice JT tensing up and moving the slightest bit towards Bright when Swanson began to berate him and his profile, clearly itching to get in front of Bright, between him and Swanson. JT pretended that he didn't care, but he wasn't fooling anyone anymore, and he hadn't been for a while.

Part of Dani was surprised that Gil did so little, only standing between Bright and Swanson - although, just like JT, his body language clearly displayed that he wanted to be doing a lot more. But she understood why he couldn't do anything. Just like Swanson had so clearly said, the commissioner had ordered full cooperation, which gave Swanson room and full ability to be as cruel as she wanted. As much as Gil clearly wanted to do something about her, he couldn't, at least not at first. Dani figured that if Swanson began to be so terrible to Bright again, either in front of him or Gil, then Gil wouldn't hesitate to let her know who she was messing with. When it came to people who messed with Bright, Dani had come to find out that Gil only gave one second chance, and that was only if someone was lucky.

Dani would last as long as she could, but she knew that Gil would understand if - when - she inevitably blew up at Swanson and forced the woman to consider her words concerning Bright very carefully. That moment came only a minute after Bright left for his family dinner. She was back in the conference room with Swanson and the other agents, who, at least, didn't seem to care about Bright one way or the other. Little victories and all that. But Swanson just had to remind everyone of just how much she hated Bright at every opportunity that she could find.

"Is this a lead we can run down, or did the little freak ruin that too?" Swanson asked one of her team. Dani didn't even know what she was talking about, nor did she care that much. Dani had already done her job in bringing Swanson up to speed on everything they had, so now all she wanted to do was get back to her own team. She would gladly turn over the entire Junkyard Killer case to the FBI and never deal with it again if it meant that she got to go back to her team and away from Swanson. But that wasn't an option yet, so Dani had to just suffer through it. In one ear and out the other, that's what she kept telling herself as she poured over the files, looking for anything they may have missed. The more she paid attention to Swanson, the more pissed off she was going to be.

"I still think the psycho's involved," Swanson continued. "There's no way he's not. I knew it was only a matter of time before he snapped, just like his father. I'm only surprised the freak lasted this long."

That was it. Dani was done. She wasn't going to just sit there and listen to Swanson spout that garbage about her teammate, her friend, her partner.

"That's enough," Dani said, loudly enough that everyone in the conference room stopped and looked at her. Swanson just glared at her. "I don't care what your beef with Bright is, but you leave it at the door. In this precinct, we act professional, no matter who we're working with. In this precinct, Bright is a valued member of the Major Crimes Division. I don't care about your history. You will not accuse him of being a serial killer's accomplice without hard evidence. Not here. I don't care what the commissioner said. If you don't start acting like an adult, I won't help you. None of Major Crimes is going to help you. Do I make myself clear?" Dani glared down at them. She would not back down until they agreed to act professional.

Most of the agents and techs nodded respectfully, but Swanson was matching her glare.

"I don't know how the FBI operates, but in the NYPD, we get hard evidence before we accuse someone of being a murderer," Dani continued, not breaking off her glare. The held each other's gaze for another moment before Swanson finally acquiesced.

"Fine," she said through clenched teeth, then went back to her files.

Smiling to herself, Dani did the same. If Swanson said anything else, Dani was perfectly willing to follow through on her threat, and she knew that Gil would back her up.

An hour later, Swanson still hadn't said anything else. Dani got up to get herself some coffee, hoping for a chance to talk to Gil while she was out of the conference room. Gil was in his office, going over some paperwork. She snuck a look back at the conference room, peeking through the blinds that had been purposely closed to shut out Bright and remind him that he wasn't wanted - a thought that sent another stab of cold fire through Dani's heart - and turned away to speak with her boss. The agents all seemed busy enough.

A quick knock and muttered reply later, and Dani was relaxing back into one of the chairs in front of Gil's desk.

"Can I be done?" she asked him, knowing full well that she sounded like a moody teenager. Gil smirked.

"Tired of the FBI already?"

"Tired of Swanson," Dani groaned. "Out of all the agents they could've picked to head up this investigation, why did they have to pick her? She's from the DC office, and there's an office here in the city with just as many capable agents. Picking Swanson just doesn't make any logical sense." She shook her head. It was as if the world was just conspiring to make Bright's life miserable. "Bright isn't even here and she's still going off about him. She's so blinded by her hatred for him that she genuinely thinks he's a suspect. As if Bright could help a serial killer." She sighed and shook her head. The whole thing was stupid. Whatever Bright and Lazar were talking about in the turnstiles, it clearly wasn't something about how they were going to team up. If that were the case, then Lazar wouldn't have trapped Bright there and broken his ribs. Dani saw the tape. She saw how Bright just collapsed when Lazar let him go. She saw him when he got back to precinct afterwards, she saw how much pain he was in. That didn't jive with Swanson's deranged idea that Bright was working with the man.

"You better get used to it, because this? This is what life is like once you care about that kid," Gil said, a sad smile on his face. Dani looked back to him, confused. "You're finally feeling what it's like to have to deal with people who unfairly judge him, who take a bad experience they've had with him and use it to justify hating him. Because you care about Bright, it bothers you. It bothers you a lot more than you want to admit."

Dani couldn't help but smile. "I did tell 'em off about an hour ago," she admitted. "Swanson hasn't said anything about him since, so I think it worked."

"I'm glad it did," Gil said, his smile gone. He shook his head and sighed, looking over to Bright's empty desk.

"I take it it doesn't always?" Dani hazarded a guess.

Gil let out a bitter laugh. "No, no it does not." He looked back over at Dani. "Bright and I followed up on the lead with Turner's old partner, who happened to be one of the detectives on the Surgeon's case. Detective Shannon, he hated Bright, even when the kid was only ten. The guy was a bad cop. I don't know how anyone could be so cruel to a child, but he was. Clearly he didn't grow out of that." He shook his head again, rolling his eyes. "The moment Shannon answers the door, he shoves a gun right in Bright's face, drunk. Once he finally lets us inside to talk, Bright started acting like Bright, calling the guy out for his behavior, and if I hadn't stepped in front of Bright and pushed the guy back, I think Shannon would've strangled him. He saw the kid's hand shaking and he just scoffed." Gil straightened up and looked straight at Dani. "Like I said, when you start caring about the kid, you start seeing how people mistreat him every single day. Even JT was in here before he left to chase down Emily's boss complaining about Swanson." Dani couldn't help but smile. JT wouldn't like that she knew that. "That's part of what makes this team a family." Gil smiled again and relaxed back into his chair.

"Does that mean I can chase Swanson off our property?" she asked with a smirk.

"No," Gil denied, laughing. "Now get back in there, before she starts hating you too."

"Oh, I think it's a little late for that," Dani replied as she stood, but did as Gil said and went back to do her job.

Pouring over the same files for the millionth time, Dani's mind wandered. Did Bright know how much Gil cared about him? He definitely didn't know how much Dani cared about him, since Dani was just figuring that out herself. Dani found herself excited for when Bright returned to the precinct after he escaped his family dinner. She wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, not just to spite Swanson, although that was an amazing bonus, but because she did genuinely care about Bright, and maybe she could help make Bright's Christmas merry and bright. He deserved a good holiday.

But Bright just never seemed to get the good things he deserved.


End file.
